France building its own encrypted messaging service

French government is building its own encrypted messenger service to ease fears that foreign entities can spy on private conversations between top officials.

None of the world’s major encrypted messaging apps, including Facebook’s (FB.O) WhatsApp and Telegram, a favourite of President Emmanuel Macron, are based in France, raising the risk of data breaches at servers outside the country.

The digital ministry said about 20 officials and top civil servants are testing the new app which a state-employed developer has designed with the aim that its use will become mandatory for the whole government by the summer.

The U.S. social network, which bought WhatsApp in 2014, has drawn heavy criticism since it acknowledged that information about many millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

The ministry however declined to give the names of either the codes or the messaging service.